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Game Fair uses contact manager™ Event Manager to run successful shows

Organised by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) the annual CLA Game Fair has been running for over fifty years. The 2010 CLA Game Fair was a resounding success with a record 144,000 visitors over 3 days and positive reports from over 1,000 exhibitors set out across 500 acres at Ragley Hall, Warwickshire.  With a budget of £3 million it is considered to be the world’s largest country sports and outdoor pursuits events with an estimated economic benefit to the local region of £10 million.

“I think the Game Fair is the most important event not just for the countryside but for country people”

Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph columnist

The phenomenal growth of the event is partly due to its ability to diversify the attractions on offer and the fact that different venues are selected across the UK. The event offers displays from falconry, off-road vehicles through to working horses as well as clay-pigeon shooting.

The Requirement

Having already implemented contact manager™ CRM the CLA had recognised the substantial benefits of using a comprehensive database system. With a significant year on year increase in attendance, of not only attendees but also exhibitors, the CLA realised that the existing systems could no longer manage this growth.

Also armed with the knowledge that a majority of the attendees where in fact members of the CLA, it made logical sense to utilise contact manager™ Event Manager to fully manage the process of ticket handling. This required a process from managing sales through to printing of tickets and giving the added benefit of future marketing capabilities.

The key requirement was first and foremost a reliable and efficient process. With such a high profile event the CLA could not afford to have any failures within the process. Secondly the process needed to be cost efficient; although the event has a large budget it is essential that it achieves the forecast to breakeven.

The process of ticket sales and delivery is very much considered to be at the “front line”; any failures are very visible and could be the difference in a successful or unsuccessful event.

The Solution

Together with consultants from Decisions, the CLA went through the processes involved and established the process flows. Using these flows Decisions were able to implement the contact manager™ Event Manager module. The key processes involved were establishing a pre-sales element in order to market the event, core functionality to manage ticket sales, and utilising the contacts database for post-marketing campaigns.

A key area which makes the ticket sales unique is that of the free allocations. CLA members have the ability to request a free allocation of tickets, based upon their membership type. The system had to recognise this element and manage the correct free ticket allocation as well as establishing the correct payment requirements. This in turn must reflect correctly within the sales ledger.

The next task for contact manager™ Event Manager was that of organising the printing of all attendees tickets. The Event module was able to utilise the contacts database to make this a fast and efficient process.

The Benefits

The key benefit for the CLA has been the seamless integration of contact manager™ CRM along with the Event Manager module. The ability of utilising the substantial powers of their contact database, to not only market the event but also to establish a smooth and efficient sales process, has greatly enhanced the CLA’s capabilities.

As well as efficiency savings and the cost benefits. The CLA now operate under the safe knowledge of having a robust and reliable back office system. contact manager™ CRM with Event Manager has removed the costly pitfalls of data errors and has helped in increasing the marketing capabilities that had not been envisaged prior to the system being in place.

• Increase in efficiency

• Established cost benefits

• Increased data integrity

• Increased marketing capabilities

• Robust and reliable solution

 

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